This archive report was first published on 25 November 2019.
As Governor Wycliffe Oparanya winds down his second and final term in office, the Kakamega county gubernatorial contest is becoming increasingly complex, with multiple candidates vying for the top spot.
One of the latest entrants to the race is Fernandez Barasa, the managing director of the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Limited, whose political connections within the county and across the country have sent shivers down the spines of many.
Although Barasa has not openly declared his candidacy, political machinery is at work across the county to ensure that he succeeds Oparanya, who hails from the southern part of the county.
Barasa's entry has been met with shock, particularly given his ability to mount a serious campaign, as evidenced by his socio-economic activities across the county aimed at endearing himself with voters.
While the Northerners have never voted as a block, the southerners have always united behind one of their own, as exhibited in the 2013 election when the late housing minister Soita Shitanda and Wycliffe Oparanya battled it out.
Among other contenders is Lugari legislator Ayub Savula, who enjoys the northern support, as well as county senator Cleophas Malala, who has been received with shock owing to his ability to mount a serious campaign.
Malala's entry has not been well-received by Oparanya, who believes that the senator has been fighting him from his days as an MCA, and is also seen as a foreigner in county politics and sympathetic to ODM leader Raila Odinga.
County clerk Laban Atemba and former Kakamega senator Bonnie Khalwale have also declared interest for the top county position, with Khalwale eyeing governorship on a Jubilee ticket courtesy of his relationship with deputy president William Ruto.
